How to Get Into a Top Law School?
Top law schools require stellar undergraduate grades, an LSAT score that shows you can compete with their student body, and soft factors which demonstrate experiences that will add to the diversity and knowledge of the law school class. For Top 10 law schools, a ballpark combination would be scoring at least 172+ on the LSAT and a 3.8+ GPA.
What’s the difference between someone who gets accepted into Harvard Law and someone who doesn’t? Experience tells me there are two universal traits of people who get into top law schools: the quality of their undergraduate education, and their engagement in extracurricular activities and professional positions that show passions and a level of expertise in one or more subject areas. They also have high LSAT scores, unless they have overcome significant obstacles in their life in order to excel in academics and extracurriculars.
Top Law Schools are looking for thinkers – people who are not afraid of a challenge and were truly engaged in their educational and professional environments. If you phoned it in during your college years, doing the bare minimum academically while focusing on less intellectual endeavors, top law schools have the luxury of turning you away even if your LSAT score is 174+. When I review a law school applicant’s transcript and resume, it’s immediately obvious whether they took their college experience seriously and whether they have pursued the kinds of activities and positions that will help them compete with people at the top law schools.
An internship on Capitol Hill isn’t enough unless it’s combined with a series of interesting pursuits and a record of excelling. For law school applicants who don’t have the luxury to pursue unpaid internships, law schools are looking for whether you balanced school and work well or just barely managed. Getting a 4.0 at a state university while working full time can get you into Harvard Law if your LSAT is in the right range (as several of my clients have done) — not everyone has to have traditional pre-law internships but the work experience (during and after law school) should show advancement and intellectual engagement.
Quality of Undergraduate Education
Attending a prestigious undergraduate institution puts you at an advantage in the eyes of the Top Law Schools. You’ve been tested against the nation’s best and brightest, and – presumably – engaged in rigorous coursework with renowned professors. Earning top grades and writing a thesis in this environment is something Top Law Schools appreciate. It also makes it highly likely you will have a letter of recommendation (or two or three) from professors who are truly in a position to evaluate your work and can compare you to past students who have gone on to Top Law Schools. An applicant from this background, especially one who has supplemented their time with volunteer efforts, travel, and interesting and well-rounded pursuits, is ideally positioned for success in the law school admission process.
In recent cycles, my applicants admitted to Harvard Law attended schools including Stanford, Columbia, Michigan, Penn, Ohio State (honors program), Arizona State (honors program), Trinity, Kenyon, and Berkeley — as well as Harvard itself. T6 admits have also come from large public universities where clients had near-perfect GPAs and participated in honors programs or pursued rigorous majors.
Top Law Schools are unlikely to admit people who attended less impressive undergraduate schools, especially if there were opportunities you did not pursue (such as independent academic research, challenging courses, and intellectual pursuits outside of the classroom). However, if you have a near perfect GPA and stellar academic accomplishments at a well-known and respected school, especially where your major is known to be rigorous, the fact that you didn’t go Ivy League may be forgiven. Examples include studying Philosophy at Rutgers and Business at the University of Southern California because these are departments that are particularly respected within the academic community.
It also includes attending a college-within-a-college honors program.
If you started at a community college, changed majors several times, attended a state university near home where you had few opportunities to interact with faculty members, majored in something not known for rigor, like Communications or Legal Studies, and still only managed a 3.5 GPA, Top Law Schools are unlikely to take you seriously even if you absolutely kill the LSAT. In fact, a 3.5 at a respected university is a disadvantage in recent cycles. Top Law Schools are not compromising on GPA; they can forgive an LSAT that’s a bit low if everything else is in line and impressive but not a GPA because it’s earned over time.
For non-traditional applicants who have been out of school for many years, a lot can be forgiven if their work experience is truly impressive and if their LSAT score demonstrates academic abilities beyond what is evident from their transcript. I’ve had clients in their late 40s admitted to Harvard Law School, Michigan Law School, and many others. The key is showing that your post-college experience was meaningful, intellectually demanding, and demonstrates the kind of person who will thrive in a rigorous academic environment.
Activities
What activities are Top Law Schools looking for? What actually impresses them? Here are a few examples:
Sophisticated post-grad work experience and/or education
Participation in college athletics (no matter the division)/Olympic or other high-level competitive sports involvement
Significant volunteer experience at home or abroad regarding an issue you are particularly knowledgeable and passionate about
Learning another language, along with significant international and/or multi-cultural experience
Holding a leadership position within a journal, college newspaper, or political or service organization
—Anything that demonstrates passion/knowledge/drive and direction. Even if it might be a bit controversial or distinctive.
What doesn’t impress Top Law Schools? Applicants who spent most of their time on fraternity and sorority involvements, whose internships are scattered and primarily include online marketing and social media management, who have not spent significant time volunteering in a meaningful capacity, and who only have traditional travel or study abroad experiences.
Obstacles Overcome
Merely having obstacles in your background won’t get you into a Top Law School; a lot of application fees are wasted by people who believe otherwise. The key to getting into a Top Law School is being able to show that despite growing up with significant disadvantages, you got yourself somewhere really amazing on your own two feet. In other words, it’s how you reacted to the obstacle, how you overcame the obstacle, that impresses Top Law Schools. For example, if you couldn’t attend college so you joined the military, then earned multiple degrees while deployed. Or if you were a single mom and had to pay your way through school while managing your life and you still excelled. It’s the “overcoming” that matters most to law schools – that’s what shows your personal drive and motivation and that’s what brings a diverse viewpoint to the classroom and to the legal profession.
Diversity and the Post-SFFA Landscape
Since the Supreme Court’s 2023 decision in Students for Fair Admissions, how Top Law Schools evaluate diversity has shifted. Schools can no longer use race as a standalone factor in admissions decisions. However, applicants can still write about how their background — including experiences related to race and ethnicity — has shaped their perspectives and character. For more on this, see my article on diverse perspective statements (also called lived experience statements).
Using AI in Your Applications
One more note for current applicants: Top Law Schools are increasingly aware of artificial intelligence being used in application essays. Admissions committees read thousands of personal statements — they know when something doesn’t sound like a real person wrote it. A personal statement written by AI cannot, by definition, be personal. Use AI as a brainstorming tool if you want, but the writing must be yours.
2025–26 Top Law Schools (US News & World Report)
Note: US News releases updated rankings annually, typically in the spring. The 2026–27 rankings are expected in April 2026.
The Bottom Line on Getting Into Top Law Schools
Getting into a Top Law School requires more than strong numbers. The applicants who succeed are the ones who were genuinely engaged in their education, pursued meaningful activities and professional experiences, and can communicate what makes them distinctive through their application materials.
If your numbers put you in range, your soft factors and application quality will determine the outcome. If your numbers are slightly below the medians, a compelling story of achievement and engagement can still get you in — but you need everything else to be exceptional.
Contact me if you need strategic help applying to Top Law Schools. As someone who made admissions decisions for years, I can help you evaluate your competitiveness, build a strategic school list, and develop applications that present you at your strongest.
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